This invention relates to an improved adjusting tool for use with an adjustable tangent assembly in a diaphragm gas meter.
An adjustable tangent assembly for a diaphragm gas meter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,520,676, which issued on June 4, 1985, to Irwin A. Hicks and Charles W. Albrecht, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein. As disclosed therein, the adjustable tangent assembly is provided with a pair of concentric face gears coaxial with the axis of rotation of the crank shaft and accessible through a small plug hole in the meter cover. An adjusting tool is disclosed for insertion through the plug hole to allow independent self-locking adjustment of the timing and stroke with high resolution. The disclosed adjusting tool includes first and second concentric tubes having face gears at their free ends and first and second adjusting knobs extending at right angles to the tubes and engaging the tubes with respective bevel gears to turn the respective tubes. While satisfactory in operation, the disclosed adjusting tool is disadvantageous due to the number of parts required, difficulty of assembly, and cost.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved adjustment tool.